diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b378d39..f52cf96 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -103,6 +103,13 @@ $ bpkg install stephenmathieson/git-standup -g
 cp -f git-standup /usr/local/bin
 ```
 
+### Packages With Dependencies
+
+You can install a packages dependencies with the `bpkg getdeps` command. These will recursively install in `deps/` sub-folders to resolve all dependencies.
+
+_Note: There is no protection against circular dependencies, so be careful!_
+
+
 ### Retrieving package info
 
 After installing a package, you can obtain info from it using `bpkg`.
@@ -195,6 +202,17 @@ This is an array of scripts that will be installed into a project.
   "scripts": ["script.sh"]
 ```
 
+### dependencies (optional)
+ 
+This is a hash of dependencies. The keys are the package names, and the values are the version specifiers. If you want the latest code use `'master'` in the version specifier. Otherwise, use a tagged release identifier. This works the same as `bpkg install`'s package/version specifiers. 
+
+```json
+  "dependencies": {
+    "term": "0.0.1"
+  }
+```
+
+
 ## Packaging best practices
 
 These are guidelines that we strongly encourage developers to follow.
diff --git a/bpkg-getdeps b/bpkg-getdeps
new file mode 120000
index 0000000..b2e988c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bpkg-getdeps
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+lib/getdeps/getdeps.sh
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/getdeps/getdeps.sh b/lib/getdeps/getdeps.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..13d0d0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/getdeps/getdeps.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+## output usage
+usage () {
+  echo "Installs dependencies for a package."
+  echo "usage: bpkg-getdeps [-h|--help]"
+  echo "   or: bpkg-getdeps"
+}
+
+## Read a package property
+bpkg_getdeps () {
+  local cwd="`pwd`"
+  local pkg="${cwd}/package.json"
+
+  ## parse flags
+  case "$1" in
+    -h|--help)
+      usage
+      return 0
+      ;;
+  esac
+
+  ## ensure there is a package to read
+  if ! test -f "${pkg}"; then
+    echo 2>&1 "error: Unable to find \`package.json' in `pwd`"
+    return 1
+  fi
+
+  dependencies=$(cat "${pkg}" | bpkg-json -b | grep '\[\"dependencies' | sed "s/\[\"dependencies\",//" | sed "s/\"\]$(printf '\t')\"/@/" | tr -d '"')
+  dependencies=($(echo ${dependencies[@]}))
+
+  ## run bpkg install for each dependency
+  for (( i = 0; i < ${#dependencies[@]} ; ++i )); do
+    (
+      local package=${dependencies[$i]}
+      bpkg install ${package}
+    )
+  done
+  return 0
+}
+
+if [[ ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} != $0 ]]; then
+  export -f bpkg_getdeps
+else
+  bpkg_getdeps "${@}"
+  exit $?
+fi
diff --git a/lib/install/install.sh b/lib/install/install.sh
index 73d60a8..8fb7d21 100755
--- a/lib/install/install.sh
+++ b/lib/install/install.sh
@@ -358,6 +358,8 @@ bpkg_install_from_remote () {
         chmod u+x "${cwd}/deps/bin/${scriptname}"
       )
     done
+    # install package dependencies
+    (cd ${cwd}/deps/${name} && bpkg getdeps)
   fi
 
   return 0